Dear Fantasy Football:

Dear Fantasy Football:

Football season is around the corner. Can you feel it? Hot summer days, leading into cool fall nights. Tailgating, hot-chocolate, visiting with old friends, friendly rivalry…these are all things football season brings to mind. While bring so much joy to the fall season, you also bring a very dark side.

Conversations with other concerned wives have caused the need to speak out; and as a member of the Jaded Wives of Fantast Football club, I feel it is my duty to speak on behalf of our entire association.

We hate you. I repeat, we hate you. You came into our husbands lives as a fun pastime, to increase the love of NFL football (not that any of them needed MORE reason to love a sport). Over the last few years, you found a way to infiltrate other areas of their lives, like a virus, like a dirty, nasty virus. You have become increasingly more annoying. What started as a 12 member league of managers that comes and goes with football season, has evolved into a year-‘round passion, nay, obsession. While I respect the fundamentals you instill in our husbands (loyalty, fervor, dedication, etc.), you have turned them into monsters.

While you provide an outlet for our husbands to pretend like manage actual squads through drafting/trading players then discussing life on your message boards has become a compulsion that increases in time. Do you know your message-boarding began this year as early as June?? FOOTBALL DRAFTING DOESN’T EVEN BEGIN UNTIL LATE AUGUST!! An example: my husband came home last week and said "the message boards have already begun." Your football related message board has turned into a forum for life. Our husbands discuss anything on what should be football-only boards. Sure, the intention is there… but with one foul comment, they are down the path of destruction only to be stopped, and superseded by the next deceptive (yet funny) comment about someone else’s wife or girlfriend, sexual orientation, home, job or (now) children.

Fantasy Football, we are begging you to take it easy. GIVE US OUR HUSBANDS BACK... if you must be a part of their lives, let your Fantasy Football shenanigans take up only 3/4ths of our husband’s spare time, rather than the usual: EVERY SPARE MOMENT, IN. EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.

To sum things up: Block services until August. Have a cap on allowable time per day. Require husbands to spend AS MUCH time with the wives and children they leave behind as they do with their boyfriends/managers daily. If you do those minor little things, we promise to lighten up, and be mostly okay with occasional conversations we have to have to satiate our husbands.

Thank you for listening to our collective complaints. Have a wonderful season. Best of luck with everything…. Kind of.

Sincerely,
Members of the Jaded Wives of Fantast Football Club

I'm The King Of The Water.

If you have ever been near Brodie and ANY body of water, you know that in a past life, he was an otter. Brodie would almost give up breathing if it meant he could stay in the water full time.

Because it has been so hot outside, we bought Brodie a baby pool. We filled it up, put the cherub on the back patio in his seat, and played with the puppies in the water. Brodie decided it was HIS pool only. He finally has water in HIS backyard; he was certainly not about to share it with his sister! Here are two videos of Brodie being...well, Brodie.

"The Light Switch"

So many mommy's have told me about this magical light switch that turns on around 8 weeks. This "light switch" mommies talk about encompasses longer sleeping at night, smiles from their baby, taking more food (which inevitably means longer sleeping at night), holding their head up without much assistance, this incredibly cute blob switches into an incredibly cute baby.

Noah's light switch turned on. He is a real baby. He has managed to sleep longer at night; eat more less often; he smiles at everything, everyone - including his silly puppies. Anything catches his eye. He is so happy to be held and loved on.

(Guiltily), I have told so many people, I am counting down the days until I can go back to school; I am going crazy at home. However, if he keeps up his personality; if he keeps this sweet-baby routine that he is in right now, I DREAD August 13th. I am LOVING my baby boy's new outlook (which is any outlook, let's be honest.)

Here is a recent picture of that sweet, handsome man of mine.

Look Who's Talking.

No, I am not referring to the movie. I have a little Ranger who is talking. I took this video this morning.

In the last few days, he has really found his voice. When people talk to him, he makes noise back. When things make noise at him, he talks back. Here, he is talking to the monkey toy in his jungle gym! How Cute is he!?!

Two Months Old...

Oh my goodness. My baby boy is two months old. TWO MONTHS OLD. I will add a picture later, but for now, here are a few stats on my little Bug.

• My baby can squeeze into size one diapers... I think we will soon give up on the idea of a size one baby.
• He loves to be held where he can look over your shoulder.
• He loves being held.
• When he sleeps, he holds onto your shirt.
• Currently, he eats somewhere between 4-6 ounces.
• He wears 0-3 months clothes - but, I think we will soon outgrow those as well.

I thought I would be sad today. I am not. Instead, I am thanking God for this sweet little miracle. We have played in his jungle gym this morning. We took a long nap, and now we are cleaning house together. What a great little helper.

We have one more month at home together. That is a bittersweet thought. I will spend it (moving into the new house) LOVING ON MY BABY!

Jennifer Jones (photograhpy)

My friend Jenni came to visit Noah when he was four weeks old. She is an aspiring photographer and I must say, she is quite good. Here are some of her pictures....

...It doesn't hurt that her subject is so dang cute. Thanks Jenni for taking these pictures. I looked through the whole disk. I can't wait to hang so many of these in our new home!

Whoopsies.

Motherhood sure puts a damper on being able to regularly blog!! :) Here are pictures for July 8 and 9th!

We will have a ton of pictures from today! I am co-hosting a baby shower for one of my dear friends, Sarah! I am so so excited!

New House Update

What? A Post NOT about the baby?? You got it....just one.

I wanted to give an update on our soon-to-be new house!! Cullen and I find that we drive past the house more than once a day. (I am not too sure this is normal - but what is fun about being normal??)

It is coming along so nicely. I get more excited to move in everyday!! I picture our little Noah's room all decorated. I see our furniture and our memories hanging on the wall. Oh I am just so excited.

When we drove past yesterday, we stopped. The builder was across the street, so he came over and let us in. We walked around, smiled a ton; talked about "what we want here" and "what we see there". I left Cullen alone with the builder and walked in all the rooms.

What is so neat about this house, is every time I walk through it I find something new. This time was no different. There was a light switch in Noah's room - this light switch was next to the real light switch. I flipped it on.... guess what?? There is a light in his closet!! I know that is no real big deal, except I didn't notice it last time we were there. It is just a small touch that makes me feel like we really made a great buy!!

14 days exactly until we move in!!

Why is it SO Funny....

Maybe it is sleep deprivation?

Maybe it is childish immaturity...

Maybe it is the fact that I am home alone all day, and ANYTHING amuses me.

BUT, when Noah toots and smiles - I laugh loudly. Today, Noah was sitting in his car seat asleep. He tooted; one of those looonnnggg, drawn out, gasses. It woke him up. He smiled BIG, looked around and went right back to sleep.

I laughed. I love my job - being a mommy. It is these moments that trump the difficult moments.

July 7th Picture

My little Bug is sick today. His tummy hurts. He will be dead asleep and wake up alarmed with tears streaming down his face. It is so sad.

Here is a picture I took yesterday....thought it was too cute not to share. I was singing to him, and this was the reaction I got. (What he should learn quickly is, I don't need an audience to sing. His faces do not deter me at all!!)